So They Call us Heroes
by fic-writer03
Summary: 4 friends fight for their lives in a story about life in WWII- This is the first chapter of my first story
1. Default Chapter

You call us heroes right?  
  
The men who beat the Nazis and freed the world forever, well I sure as hell don't fell that way.  
  
If you call spearing another mans heart out heroic- then I'm a hero.  
If you call blowing another man's brains to the dirt heroic- then you bet your ass I'm a hero.  
And if you call losing friends and teammates, and having to leave their corpses to rot while you try to kill another German, then yes, I am a hero  
But you don't know what it's like.....  
  
June, 1944 a day before D-day  
  
"Hey Quinn!" I hollered. "What" he replied. "Get up we're goin' battle." He smiled, "yeah, gonna kick some kraut ass." But the invasion was cancelled. So we went out into the camp, shooting at little dummies, we had no idea what was going to happen. For years we had practiced up to this event, and we were pissed that it wasn't today We were so damn foolish to think that we were going to both come back with Hitler's head in our hands and thousands of beautiful women waiting for us. We were kids. 18 years old and ignorant, and so were Ben and Kevin.  
We all had dreams. Ever since we ran around in the backyard making gun sounds with sticks. Up until now, where we were shooting M1's at the dummies in blue uniforms. That's unimpotant. Because the next day would be the fight of our lives. 


	2. The Beaches of Normandy

The plane flew us onto the beach. We were to excited and scared to talk so we just stared at each other. 4 friends in the 82nd airborne about to throw ourselves to the lions. I broke the silence, "It's time to roll!" trying to sound excited "Yeah" they murmured together trying to sound pumped up. But they were scared. Their very souls turned white at the sound of screaming, bombs, and necer- ending gunfire. It was in their eyes. This terror that plunged so deep that you could almost see their faces blank as they hit the ground with blood leaking from their mouths. And we dropped.  
I had just released my parachute and was about 20 feet to the ground when bullets shot up my parachute- I was falling and hit my back on the sand.  
It hurt like hell.  
But I had to get up. Ben and Kevin helped me and we charged towards a solitary bunker with three machine gun nests. Kevin, Ben, and I both jumped into cover. Quinn was still charging when I grabbed his neck and pulled him into a ditch. "you almost got killed you fucking dumbass!" I screamed as he narrowly escaped 10 bullets being lodged into his chest, "If it weren't for me you'd be using your dick as a pencil!" Quinn just lay there with blank eyes and he couldn't speak. We all crouched up and fired at the bunkers until we could get some dynamite to blow the fence. Then the Captain came with a frail looking boy who blew a hole in the fence. It was an explosion so loud that I felt like my ears were going to explode out of my skull. Ben grabbed my collar and said, "come on chickenshit, wev'e got a hell of a ways to go!" Quinn being the sniper had to hit the guys in the bunker so we could get out of this hell hole. We made our risky run as we left behind some men grabbing at the sand trying to escape the horrible pain of their wounds. A man stepped on a landmine not 15 feet in front of me.  
I felt the heat. His arm hit me in the face, and I threw up.  
It was that smell; the smell of burning flesh and the screams of unexplainable pain form the men behind us. Little boys whov'e trained for months to come to the battlefield, only to have their lives and everything theyv'e worked so hard to accomplish vanished in the blink of an eye. As blood leaked from thier skulls. We stayed low, and Quinn fired off a shot as we lay out cover fire.  
A direct hit. The man went down screaming until he hit the sand writhing in agony. I had to end his pain and I capped him once and the screaming stopped.we reached the bottom of the bunker to a large, unprotected metal door to the small bunker.  
"fire in the hole" an unknown voice rang, and the dor went down in a large explosion. The captain was the first to go in. and he shot his tommy into the area, not afraid of getting hit.  
Oh his bravery, the bravery I wish I had. I stood there hiding with only my gun pointed. While he ran in there blindly and shooting up a storm. A puff of smoke and it was over the captain was unscathed while 8 Nazis lay dead One soldier was hiding and he came foolishly attacking us.  
Kevin and I put his lights out in three shots. Quinn spyed a Luger and got a grin he picked it up when he got shot in the foot. By a small squad heading down the metal stairs. We killed them all except for one casualty and Quinn moaning. His blood gushed out as I quickly tied a rag to stop the bleeding. "You stupid cunt," Ben said, "I oughtta shove this pistol up your ass since you almost died trying to get it!" Quinn just smiled as I injected Morphine into his leg. Which I hated since needles always made me queazy. I remember when I threw a tantrum when I was eight getting a blood test.  
But we were on our way, with Quinn limping. We were ready to go up there and save the lives of the boys on the beach. The boys without legs and the boys with no heads and the boys puking up their intestines. It ends here. 


	3. Victory and Tragedy

We ran to the top of the bunker with sweaty hands and loaded guns. There was one lone soldier, but we lit him up quick. The latch was opened to the top, and they were waiting for us. Ben, Kevin, Quinn and I quickly leaped out of the way into cover, but many others were too slow. It was over quick. I was ready to get back up and fight, but the captain's dead body landed on my knee. My face went white and my hands went numb. I had never felt so angry to see our leader fall to the ground with that ghastly look on his face. I needed to take command- "BAYONETTS!" I screamed, and everyone put those long slender knives onto their weapons. "CHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGE!" I yelled. Everybody ran out. The Krauts were unaware of our attack and I knew it would be over quick. We ran out each exchanging gunfire until *cachingk* and our clips were done. I screamed and thrust my gun into a small soldier's throat. I felt the squish of metal hitting organs and I kicked his body down. It fell like a limp noodle while everyone was continuing to fight. A few of our soldiers were down and there was one of theirs left. He threw his hands into the air and screamed "ich die abtretung!" I figured it meant "I surrender" but I was filled with a steaming anger, and with one sweep of my gun, his head came off, and the battle was over. We used a smoke bomb to signal that we had taken over the bunker. We left the bunker and it exploded. We awaited the planes with blood-soaked uniforms. Kevin punched me across the face and I hit the ground. "What the fuck is wrong with you!?" he screamed in my face. "That was a prisoner! We could've gotten information from him! But you were so pent up on rage that you had to kill him!" I wanted to apologize, but nothing came out. The plane reached the beach, and we and the other survivors climbed on.  
"Welcome" said the officer on the plane. "You boys did a good job today. You'll all be rewarded for your bravery, but now we have so much to cover." 


	4. A funny Thing About Change

"Private First Class Nick Kreider" I said and smiled in my bunk.  
"It was the least they could do for all the Nazis we had to kill" muttered Ben.  
"Well." said Kevin, "I don't think I want to go back out there" Kevin admitted. I was shocked to hear this. "Why not!?" I said harshly. "Are you too chicken shit to go out there? Is mommy's little baby afraid he'll get shot by the mean-old-Germans?" I said in a babyish voice. "No!" He said. "I just well, don't think I want to kill again. You convinced me to join and well... This. This just doesn't seem right you know? Is the point of our lives just to kill another man as we ourselves die a little more, and as we constantly put ourselves at the risk of dying?" He questioned. "No we aren't" I corrected. "We're god damn heroes for what we're doing. These people- These monsters are ruining the lives of anyone who isn't just like them." I interjected, "But of course we can just let the Germans walk all over us and tell us what to do. We can let them just ruthlessly destroy the lives of Jews and half-Jews like Ben over here." "Yeah!" Ben said. "If this is what you want to happen then just go back to mama!" (Well, if he could) Quinn sat quietly throughout the entire fight. He seemed to just soak in everything we said into his head. I could only imagine what was running through his head while we bickered. I decided to keep him out of our feud, but Quinn had to be "Mr. Problem-Solver" and ended the fight before the fists started flying. I furrowed my brow and said "fine!" and buried my head in my pillow for the night.  
  
"Mornin' maggots!" a new face said at 3 A.M. "I'm your new ringleader- Lieutenant Barker you can call me, and I'm gonna make your lives a living hell." We started at training camp the next day. With my increase in rank, I got to try a new toy. The Tommy. I took aim and bam! A couple of quick shots and I pulled the bolt back for the next round of firing. I was on top of the world and indestructible. Our 10 mile run felt a lot easier, but the new lieutenant was a royal asshole, is ever there was one. Any flaw that he could point out in our company he would be on your ass like a monkey would if you were in a banana suit. I remember one fat private who got his turn to be yelled at. "Come on you worthless sack of fat!" he screamed. "Maybe I should get my grandma out here with her walker, because she's gonna make a better soldier than you ever will tubby!" I watched the whole thing. I tried to turn away, but he spotted me. "What the hell are you lookin' at Kreider?" he said. "Do I amuse you?" "NO SIR!" I said. "You may have done good in Normandy, but you're with the big boys now." I just shut up to and kept running, still at the top of my game.  
  
"Lunch time!" I said sarcastically. "I think I'd rather eat my canteen." Quinn said. "I wonder what is in this um. stuff." Said Ben. "I don't think Einstein could find the composition of this shit." I said "What's the matter babies?" said a familiar and bone-chilling voice. "is grown up food not good enough for you?" Yes it was the lieutenant. "No sir!" we all said. "The food's just fine." "Good!" he said. "Carry on." "You know what" I sarcastically said when he left. "I think these next few weeks are gonna be a blast." 


	5. A Job Well Done

"Goooooooooood morning fags!" said the Lieutenant's voice. "We have oh so much more to do today! We will have so much fun!" Oh that infamous voice that will always haunt me. And the "fun" we had that day. We got to go rock climbing; Freeform rock climbing. One small private passed out from his fear of heights and fear of death. Well, I smirked, because Ben, Kevin, Quinn, and I loved rock climbing. I knew that my mom would kill me if she saw me up there. "Anybody who is afraid can turn around now." he said. Most everybody dropped back. "Well, well, well, if it isn't the fab four. I'm impressed." I smiled. "Well, the mountain isn't getting any smaller." A ways up the mountain my palms started to sweat a little. I was a little worried of the fall, but I figured that if I fell, the "pussies" down there would catch me. Ben was up ahead of us with the Lieutenant, but I was feeling confident. When we were almost at the top, I felt like I was going to shit in my pants, but I grit my teeth and made that final grab at the top. I felt like I was on top of the world. That was until I turned around and saw a trail to the bottom. I was pretty mad, but to be seen in the Lieutenant's eyes as a human being, well that was something that just couldn't be bought with money. "Good job ass fuckers." He said. I took it as a compliment nonetheless. "As your reward, you will get your weekend passes, and not have to do today's run." We looked at each other and smiled. "At ease" he said. Oh were we ever at ease. We got back and took our "special" magazines out, and caught up on some sleep that we had missed out on for so long.  
  
The weekend was basic, that was just it. We jacked around and didn't do much else. But the captain called us in for briefing on our next mission. "This will be a private mission for you four. That rock climbing was a test, and after reviewing your battle records we knew you'd be perfect for this. We will take you on an amphibious tank to a secret German Bunker. You will attack the Germans from behind. When you do so, hang the American flag from the bunker and a small force will be sent to protect it. You will run to a drop point where you will be picked up and returned to base. Any questions?" He finished. "Yes" I said. "Why is it so important?" "Well." He replied. "You'll just have to find out when you kill the Nazis. See you in the A.M." He told us to get a good night's sleep, tomorrow was going to be a long day. 


	6. The Real Test

An early wake-up call got us ready for our greatest battle. We spent most of the night talking away about how great we were, and how we were going to save the world. A plane took us to a forest where we had nothing but our gear, a knife, and our guns. We were also issued O.S.S special issue silenced pistols for stealth. We walked through the woods until we reached a large cliff face. Now I knew what the rock climbing was for. We holstered our weapons and climbed up to the very tall top. And saw the backside of at least eight Germans. We took out our pistols and killed them all before they could blink. Only the softest tat of our guns could be heard, and they hit the ground. When we got up to the stone bunker we looked down. We saw why this was and important bunker. There was a ton of ammo down there and a small force taking over a village over the edge. Quinn and Ben took out their sniper rifles to take out some soldiers down there. They took a most precise aim at the victims down below. They fired. With my binoculars I could look down and see that they were both hits on the head. I could only imagine what the soldiers were thinking when they realized that they had a hole through their heads. Maybe they even were just so unaware of the attack that they were dead before they felt the bullets hit. The attention of the rest of the soldiers was aroused. Kevin and I pulled the pins off of our grenades and threw. The explosion killed a few soldiers, and the shrapnel left a few wounded. I felt kind of sorry for the ones that were left behind writhing in pain. One even had shrapnel lodged in his face. I didn't worry about it because there was a small squad charging at us. I pulled out my Thompson and started firing. A couple of shots fired, hitting some of the charging soldiers before I had to pull the bolt back to eject a shell. The hail of gunfire started to come when I heard a tapping sound. I turned to see a grenade. I panicked and picked it up and threw it right back at them. Some more soldiers were killed and some more limbs went flying. One soldier was left and Quinn took him out quickly and there were no more shots. That's what I thought at least. More soldiers came out of the village. I saw a sniper. I yelled "Duck and cover!" but it was too late. A single bullet whizzed by and went right through Kevin's head. He hit the ground cold. I screamed and was beyond pissed off. That was when I found the 50 caliber gun and the ammo. I hopped down the bunker to the gun. "Ben!" I screamed. "Hold the ammo!" He did. The Germans went down like flies. The whole time flashed images of me and Kevin. Our first sleepover, when we first became friends, the time we swore we'd be friends forever and never split up. Kevin and I never had a single fight. When only the sniper was left I hopped out of the bunker. I stole Quinn's gun right out of his hands. With one clean shot the sniper was dead, but I kept shooting until there was almost nothing left. Quinn punched me and just looked at me. We all had tears in our eyes. I hugged Quinn and Ben and cried like I had never cried before. We hung the flag and in an hour a force was there to take over the bunker. We ran to the drop point and the plane came. With Kevin on my back and his blood soaking my body, we returned to base. Three friends minus the life of one. Kevin, my friend, my brother, my hero. 


	7. Remorse and Reflect

It was the worst ride back to base camp that I had ever been on. Ben and Quinn just looked there with longing tear-filled eyes. There was nothing we could do.  
Of course it's war. People die. It happens.  
But why him? Why there? Why?  
Of course by the time we actually arrived at the camp we were cheered. All of the soldiers there said we'd be generals by the end of the war. We didn't want to be generals; we wanted to be home. It was like we sacrificed everything to join the fight that wasn't even aimed at our country. It was Europe's war. Let those bastards handle it. I sat there and thought about it until Ben spoke the first word any of us had said since we first reached the drop. "This was fucking stupid." He solemnly said. "We joined this war to win. We gave up everything we had; our whole lives are here. It's fucked up." We knew he was right, but I just had to say something, they needed to understand. "We knew people were gonna die here." I remarked, "We're all just casualties of war. Just numbers. Don't bitch like this is a big surprise, it was gonna happen. We killed hundreds of Germans. They're gonna be scraping the brains off the wall of that house that you blew their heads with, Quinn. And the Germans that are gonna be buried from your explosives, Ben. And they're gonna be shoveling Nazis by the dozen from how I wasted them with that machine gun. Let's face it: The only way to have stopped this from happening would be if we just walked away from those recruiting stations back home. We didn't. So it's our own damn faults." I paused for a second so that they could let it soak in. I rose again in my dinky little bunk and made one last statement, "Do you know what the worst part is?" I said rhetorically. "Tomorrow we have to wake up, we will be commanding our next batch of raw recruits, and then lead them into the next killing field later." I finished, and they knew what the future would bring.  
"It's all true." Quinn whispered, "But you know what I'm gonna do tomorrow? I'm gonna train my ass of, and I'm not gonna cry like a puss anymore, I'm gonna go out there and practice. Then the next battle, we're gonna kick some Nazi ass, and they'll wish they never fucked with the U.S."  
We all shook hands and made a solemn vow on that night to win victory after victory against those krauts. Nobody would get in our way. Tomorrow we were gonna train, and we were gonna kill again. Kevin was dead, but we were gonna keep fighting onward until we had all been gutted and stone dead on the ground. The war had just started again for us. 


End file.
